Electric-railway system.



A. YUROW.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. 15, I915.

Patented Mar. 20, 1917.

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ANDRETV YUROW, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lwianr, 20, 1917.

Application filed October 15, 1915. Serial No. 56,007.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW YURoW, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in current supplying rails of electric railways of the underground conduit type, and is particularly adapted for use at track crossings and track branchings.

It has been found that the gap between the ends of the conducting rails of the main track and those of one of the branch tracks, is too large to be readily bridged by the current collecting plow of the car. As a consequence, the current supply to the motor and lighting system of the car, is momentarily interrupted and, unless the car is possessed of suflicient momentum, the supply often cannot be reestablished quick enough to prevent the stalling of the car.

The principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to decrease the size of the gap between abutting ends of the conducting rails. One form of the improvement is shown in Figure 1, in a plan view of the underground conducting rails. Fig. 2, is a vertical longitudinal section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is an under plan view of the top contacts at a crossing and Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 55 of Fig. 4:.

The conducting rails of the main line are shown at 1 and 2. They are principally parallel, but flaring at their ends, as demanded by present railway practice. The rails of a crossing line are indicated at 3 and 4:, and those of two branch lines at 5, 6, and 7 8, respectively. The main conductors, supplying electric energy to the entire system of distribution are shown at 9 and 10, the polarity of the conductors being indicated by the proper conventional sign.

At crossings top contact devices 12, are provided, as shown in Figs. l and 5, and the pairs of contact pins, are marked, respectively, 13 and 14, 15, and 16, 17 and 18, 19 and 20.

At the gap formed between the abutting ends of the conducting rails of a main and of branch lines, a conducting tongue 21, is shown, comprising the members 22 and 23 connected together at the tongue point end connected by a suspension bracket 28, to the rail flange 29. The tongue members 22 and 23 have their ends connected to the abutting ends of the conducting rails 6 and 7, by suitable rail bonds 30. A supporting post 31, is conveniently located along the structure.

The utilityof the device is obvious. lVhile in the constructions heretofore in use, the gap, during the passage of which by the collecting plow no current could be supplied to the car motor, might extend, from the end of the rail 2, to the juxtaposed end of rail 6, in the present construction, this gap has been reduced to the relative short distance between the end of the rail 2 and the juxtaposed end of tongue member 22 and the gap between the end of the rail 1, and the juxtaposed end of tongue member 23 respectively, a distance which can readily be passed over by the collecting plow without any interfering interruption of the flow of current.

Having thus described the invention, together with the manner of its application and use, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with main line conducting rails, of one or more pairs of branch line conducting rails, each pair being composed of long and'short rails, cross connectcd, end to end, to said main line rails, and an auxiliary rail in each branch line electrically connected to the shorter rails of the branch lines, extending to the end of and cooperating with said longer rail of the said branch line.

2. The combination with a pair of main rails, and branch rails having their ends spaced from said main rails, certain of said branch rails being of lesser length than the others, of a fixed pendant tongue connected With the short branch rails at its rear, and Signed at New York in the county of New an insulated point on said tongue extending York and State of New York this 7th day eo-incidently with the ends of the longer of October A. D. 1915. branch rails, said tongue having conttet el'e- ANDREW YUROW.

5 ments of opposite polarity conforming to the Witnesses polarity of the rails to Which they are con- FRANCIS J. NEKARDA, nected. M. MARTENS.

dopis of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

